BRIJ NEDAN 2.0 PLATFORM BY AUDITE ACOUSTICS REVIEW

Janine Elliot take a look at the Brij Nedan 2.0 platform by Audite Acoustics that takes a novel approach to isolating your beloved HiFi gear.

With more than 40 years of engineering design and manufacturing experience including issues related to vibrations, you would expect Andrew Szczecinski from Audite Acoustics to know a thing or three about platform isolation. Andrew’s career has included working on projects with clients such as Rolls Royce and the MOD in the design and installation of engineering solutions, some of which were to address specific issues around how to manage and control vibrations in severe situations. As he told me, “This has undoubtedly helped shape how I think about our designs and how we apply certain materials and technology in order to solve problems”. And certainly, the Brij Nedan 2.0 platform, up for review here, does go far to answer the problem of extraneous vibrations ruining the quality of our
music. The idea is actually quite simple but ingenious, and one that indeed worked better in practice in my tests than I initially thought it would.

HANGER TECHNOLOGY

The basic design here is to use a hanging platform, an idea he first developed over three decades ago whilst Andrew was studying Mechanical and Electrical engineering at university. He had sketched out a new way to decouple and isolate audio equipment and, in particular, was looking at ways in which to reduce the area of contact between the equipment and what it was sat on to an absolute minimum,
whilst a thre same time maintaining its ability to support heavy equipment. He created a system hanging in tension rather than compression as you would find when using conventional springs or rubber. Whilst he had great ideas on paper, in practice the materials just weren’t yet available. His ideas would have to wait until 2020 when he could work with some new materials that exhibited the characteristics that he had so longed for, and then the following year to make the first prototype. From then on Audite Acoustics was born, presently encompassing three isolation platforms with a fourth currently in development.

The Brij Nedan is the top of the range coming in at £645. Although he originally designed the Brij
Nedan for turntables Andrew does get a lot of positive feedback (sic) from customers using them on other equipment, and indeed I tested the unit with a valve amp in my review, since valves do suffer from microphony.

For several decades it has been recognised that special feet or platforms need to be deployed to stop the big enemies of audio; vibration and interferences. Where there have largely been two methods of isolation, one being spikes and the other being suspension, I have always preferred the latter and icons like the late Max Townshend did much to isolate the ground from the audio. However, both spikes and suspension work but in different ways; spikes with their minute contact point tend to work well with mids and top frequencies but don’t isolate the bass end so well, whereas suspension systems are really good with filtering the low frequencies. Andrew’s Brij Nedan combines the two, utilizing ISOL-X technology, a
system Andrew Szczecinski had first developed decades ago.

ISOL-X

ISOL-X technology is a unique suspension system that is UK-designed and built using local suppliers, whereby the HDF (High-Density Fibreboard) platform hangs in tension. Based on three layers of HDF, the middle layer sits on the table/stand/shelf decoupled using four Sorbothane hemispheres at each corner, and the bottom level is actually hung from it and attached to the very top level on which you place your equipment. Four hangers made from a very strong and flexible material allow the top to move freely on the horizontal plane without touching anything around its sides, top or bottom. This gives it the sense of being a floating platform. The linkages have near zero stretch and at less than 0.5mm diameter
are extremely strong for their size. With four of them that equates to a total of just 2mm contact with the real world. Additionally, the floating platter can move around 8mm in any direction in the horizontal plane. They exhibit very good isolation and because they have near zero stretch, their resonant frequency
changes very little when equipment up to a very reasonable 35kg is added to the platform. As Andrew says; “Imagine something weighing 35kg being hung from these four strands which added together are less than 1mm in cross-sectional area and you start to understand the true innovation behind the Brij”. Do, however, remember to make sure that the weight of the equipment is evenly
distributed across all four edges.

THE X FACTOR

While some will still be skeptical about adding isolation – since the audio equipment has a certain amount of protection from its own feet – my job was to find out just how good this product would work with my own gear. As I can’t do A/B comparisons easily in this review I chose equipment and records I knew really well. As well as trying out my Townshend Rock 7 (but without the bass-taming trough and paddle) and my Technics direct drive turntable, I also tested it with my Leak Stereo 20 valve amplifier. It should work well with other equipment such as DACs and CD players but on a much smaller amount.

The Brij Nedan (called the “Brij” as it is like a bridge and “Nedan” a Swedish word meaning ‘below’, all pertaining to the fact that the real work is underneath the bridge) comes in at 480mm x 370mm x 75mm and is identified by a giant “X” extending over to the edges (and hiding the Sorbothane feet) which easily allows 19” wide gear to be placed on it. Most turntables should fit quite nicely on the unit, and the Brij comes in satin white, or black to fit in with your HiFi décor. My only quibble with the unit was that the Sorbothane feet aren’t stuck on very well, as the unit arrived with one foot unattached and left with a further one ungluing itself. The unit is understandably very fragile, and therefore needs very careful transportation and moving on and off shelves.

THE BIG TEST

It is so important to have good isolation when playing your vinyl. The whole idea of the cartridge is to pick up vibrations, so the fewer external vibrations there are the better the result. However, if you are due an earthquake or have a mainline railway at the bottom of your garden, isolation platforms won’t perform miracles.

For me, once I began testing, I was surprised at just how well the Brij worked across all frequencies at isolating interference, plus also improving the music. I actually tested the unit at one point on the floor just to see how it could eradicate vibrations from the loudspeakers as well as the fridge and me walking around. It worked well. With vinyl I played both very quiet music to listen for interference and loud music to see if the added control from the platform improved the music.

The Eagles title track “Long Road Out of Eden” has a variety of moods and dynamics that make a good test starting point. The deep bass at the beginning seemed better controlled and the soundstage was better placed. Instruments were clearly placed and slightly tighter sounding. Turning to the Blues singer Rick Mayall (not the late comedian), “Why Did You Go Last Night?” is not a particularly exciting track (I guess the whole idea of Blues), but the Brij seemed to lift it up a bit, with better control of the organ sounds in particular. I felt there were added dBs to the music. Trying this track again with the Leak Stereo20 valve amp in situ, gave more excitement and a clearer top end. Trying to antagonize the amplifier by tapping on the HiFi shelf didn’t end up through the speakers. This platform was well and truly doing its job. Back to vinyl and Jean Michel Jarre’s ‘Les Chants Musique’ gave me a chance to test out the top frequencies as well as the isolation from external vibrations. Again, that bass end was clearer and so were the highs from this electronica. “Magnetic Fields” even charged up my cat to go berserk in the music room, running all over the room. Something had caught his attention; maybe the extra clarity. The best album I had to really test out the platform was Katie Melua’s ‘In Winter’ album. This has just about everything I needed; lots of atmosphere, very quiet sections, gentle singing as well as some louder interjections from the instruments. If there was going to be any interference from the passing trains or my fridge-freezer then this album would pick it up. In fact, I found the music much more controlled and spacious. “Plane Song” has a whistling start with guitar and later quiet backing vocals. Everything just seemed so much more precise and gave the music a much better-balanced performance. Any vibrations I tried to provoke just didn’t account for much. I was really trying to be mean, but in the end, I just gave up and simply just listened to the gorgeous music.

On to Greetje Kauffeld’s “They Can’t Take That Away from Me” (Gershwin) the music was very laid back and seemed more controlled. This is a beautiful song with guitar, sax, and vocals, and all instruments were positioned well and focused as if there had been fog before and it was now all clear. The bass in “It Might As Well Be Spring” was extended and “tight”. Even the dynamic range seemed lifted a tad.

By reducing any interference, the bass was more controlled and there was a greater degree of clarity and detail. If you still think £645 is too much to pay for suspension then Audite Acoustics also offers the DUO NIVA from £365 and the OHJATA: from £195, though these platforms operate in different ways.

CONCLUSION

£645 might seem a lot to pay for an isolation platform, but the Brij really does improve the music and act as a great isolation from all around. It aided clarity in the bass end whilst preventing interference in bass and top end. If you have any kind of unwanted noise in your house and value your records then it’s worth giving this a listen for silence.

AT A GLANCE

Build Quality:

Brilliantly designed, but be careful of the sorbothane feet falling off

Sound Quality:

Noticeably reduced interference and better-controlled bass and tight top end

Value For Money:

£645 is not a lot to pay for isolating your HiFi from dreaded floor and equipment vibrations

We Loved:
Reduced vibration
Bass control
Improved clarity

We Didn’t Love Do Much:

Be careful with the sorbothane feet coming loose.

Elevator Pitch Review: I have always been interested in vibrations, or rather reducing vibrations, and the Brij Nedan from Audite Acoustics is a really clever way of isolating your HiFi from all that horrible noise around us and from other parts of your HiFi system. I didn’t think it would work as well as it actually turned out, and as it can hold weights up to 35kg it should work particularly well with your turntable and valve amplifier.

Price:
£645
Janine Elliot

SUPPLIED BY AUDITE ACOUSTICS

Test Kit: Townshend Rock 7/Rega/Ortofon Kontrapunkt b, Technics SL-02/Ortofon VMS20e
(turntable/cartridge); Manley Steelhead (phono stage); Krell KPS20i (CD);MFA Baby Reference preamp plus Leak Stereo 20, Synthesis Roma 98DC(amplification); Esprit and Townshend cables, Coppice Audio stand.

Specification:
Available two standard finishes, Satin Black and Satin White.
Dimensions Length 480mm, Width 370mm, Height 75mm (approx)